02 Feb 2023
The guide was average at best in terms of discussing the history of the pyramids. He seemed more interested in shuttling us to places to take photos. The real reason I give this one star is that we had a camel ride included in the tour and then we paid $15 USD per person extra for them to take us to the point we could get a photo with all 9 pyramids. It took about 30 minutes for the roundtrip. I learned after that the Egypt government has a fixed price of $3USD for a 30 minute camel ride. The reason I hire a guide is to help me navigate these things and prevent me from falling into the tourist traps and prices. It's not about the money as $15 is not a big deal in the scheme of things and I don't mind over paying a bit to support poor countries. It's the principal of feeling like hiring a guide was hiring one more layer of people in Cairo just trying to take advantage of tourists. I live in Brazil and have been to places like India. For me to get frustrated takes some effort. I feel I would have been better off hiring a driver and rolling our own. It's very easy to navigate the pyramids.